Moravian Star Christmas Decoration

 

Right! Has been a while since I added to the blog, so will start with my most recent finish...this Moravian Star that I started at the 2022 Quilting Symposium in Lower Hutt last week.

This is an English paper-pieced decoration - I started it in a class with the lovely Kiwi tutor, Cheryl Katz-Rae of Heartfelt Handmade (Facebook / Instagram) (now my new friend in crafting!) 

I was determined this would be done by Christmas (and not join the pile of UFO projects from the previous two symposiums in 2017 and 2019!)

I took the option to purchase a kit from Cheryl, which she put together with the diamond acrylic template, the paper pieces, the French General fabrics, and the little buttons for embellishment and ribbon for the hanger.

I managed to get six 'flowers' (each one side/face of the final, twelve-sided decoration) completed during the one-day class, then spent another happy day sewing on Monday to finish off the other six and put them altogether. 

The one inch diamonds are definitely the smallest size EPP that I think I would ever want to work with, as quite fiddly, but so effective for this project.  And so tempting to make another to see what it will look like with different fabrics/colours.

Also sharing with everyone at Michelle's (Bolt to Beauty) Beauties Pageant - 

and with Kelly's (My Quilt Infatuation) Needle and Thread Thursday linky party 

and Wendy's (W's Quilts and More) Peacock Party - kia ora!

UPDATE: gifted to my wonderful Teacher Aide, Liz Scott, for Xmas/thank you gift.

Re-Assemble Challenge for NZQS19

Earlier this year I joined in with the Re-Assemble Challenge for this year's NZ Quilt Symposium.

Each entrant was sent a photo of one portion of an art work and our challenge was to represent our portion in any 'quilty' way we wished as long as we matched the (roughly) A4 size and our edge lines matched. 

Here is the original photo I received:

And here are the two side-by-side; I am really pleased with how it turned out:

Each portion will then be joined together to recreate the original artwork in quilt form.

I chose to do an applique/thread painting method, with some painted areas in the green background.

I actually used bubble wrap to apply the green paint (which was a mix of light/med/dark greens, on a forest green marble fabric), quilted with an all over mini stipple.

The thread painting gives some texture and tone to the greys of the roof and poles.

I am really looking forward to seeing what the whole picture looks like! 

(I will add the finished result once I have been to Auckland in October).

Pasifika #1

Another finish of a project started during one of my classes at October's National Quilt Symposium in Christchurch.

This is a white dupion silk, free-motion quilted wallhanging, using Pasifika designs - a class tutored by Donna Ward (who won three prizes at symposium, including Best in Show!)

I used an aqua-blue theme for the quilting threads (because if it turned out okay I planned to hang it in our bedroom)...aqua in the middle, a variegated in the top right corner, and a deeper blue on the bottom left corner designs.

Donna was another friendly, relaxed and supportive tutor who gave us lots of tips about quilting Pasifika-themed designs; I really enjoyed her class.

Here it is 'in-situ'... it measures 18" x 16"...

The backing of the wallhanging is just a simple pinstripe with corner pockets for the hanging stick to sit in. 

And a Pasifika 'kia ora' or 'talofa' to visitors from Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday!! And I am thrilled to have had my Halfmoon Bay quilt featured in Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday linky!!

Halfmoon Bay

This is a completion from a project started during my class with Brenda Gael Smith at the National Quilting Symposium in Christchurch earlier this month, for her 'Serendipity Circles' quilting class.

Brian had asked me for a quilt for the auction at the Southland Charity Bowls event (which is next weekend) so when I was in the class I knew I would use the blocks for a lap quilt.

All the fabrics have come from my stash (I LOVE blue) and I am so pleased with how it looks with the mix of light and dark blues/mints/aquas. 

I wanted a square lap quilt so added the side strips to make it about 48" square.

I used a variety of free motion quilting designs for different parts of the blocks, using same-colour threads on the top and an aqua thread in the bobbin, to do a loose side to side zigzag 

for the sashing, a flower petal design across the curved blocks, and stippling for the rest of the block.

The backing is whole-cloth, wide yardage that was in my stash and is the perfect shade 

of deep aqua blue.

For the name, I wasn't inspired so I posted some in-progress photos on Facebook and some of my friends suggested names. I nearly went with Susan's suggestion of Every Which Way Is Blue, but Lenae shot in a last second suggestion of Halfmoon Bay.

That name immediately really appealed to me as all the blues remind me of the different moods of the ocean and waters found around that gorgeous piece of NZ as well as the fact that the kids and I are currently reading a Des Hunt novel that is set on Stewart Island - that seems serendipitous to me!

Linking up to share my project with Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday! Kia ora!

National Quilting Symposium - Christchurch 5-10 October 2017

I feel very lucky to have been able to attend five days of wonderful tutorials during these school holidays, at the National Symposium in Christchurch.

I loved every one of the five one-day classes I had. I got to spend time with five talented NZ and international quilt artists, learning some of their awesome techniques.  Each lady generously shared her knowledge and skills and was so supportive and encouraging of us as we learnt from them.

Below are some pictures of the projects I worked on - these Prayer Flags will be hung up in my sewing room once I get my machine back from its service tomorrow and put a running stitch along the tape.

Finished! Prayer Flags - tutor Judy Coates-Perez

Judy has posted a video of the photos she took on the day (my flags are the cover shot!!)

We hand dyed, stamped and printed our fabrics.

I had a class with head judge, Brenda Gael Smith, for her Serendipity Circles class.
We all tried the fused block and then the pieced block, before carrying on with whichever technique
we preferred to use to make our own set of blocks.

I chose to do the pieced circles using some of my blue and turquoise scraps
 - this will become a large lap quilt in a couple of weeks' time hopefully!

One of my classes was with Pat Archibald to create a version of her Auspicious Symbols wallhanging,
based on the Hong Kong skyline and elements of Chinese art.
We used a stencil and paint sticks to put a good luck symbol under our sun or moon
before stitching around it with metallic thread.

I still have to do some quilting of the skyscrapers and then couch the edges of them with
some metallic thread before adding some 'windows' with foil, then I will finish the edges to make a wallhanging.

(Half of our group - photo via Pat Archibald on Facebook)

I had picked a class for Pasifica-themed free-motion quilting with Donna Ward -
a great choice as it turned out as she won three major awards including Best in Show, Best Piecing and Best .

We worked on a large piece of silk to practice our motifs.
I will finish this off to hang it on our bedroom wall.

My fifth class was with Lyric Kinard for her 'Abstract-a-Licious' class.
She took us through some exercises about the visual language of art and we
created our own 'postcard' of abstract art - watch this space (aka my blog) to see how this
looks once I have added the black handstitching that I have got planned for it!

#patarchibald #brendagaelsmith #judycoatesperez #donnaward #lyrickinard